Showing posts with label drew and the medicinal pen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drew and the medicinal pen. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Drew and the Medicinal Pen: Dose #3


It took me a few weeks to get this interview with Drew and it pretty much was done over emails and a vigorous run through the Facebook messaging system. So here are my favorite questions for a diamond in the rough streets of New York.

1. What is you favorite type of tea?
Black Coffee
2. What are you currently listening to/what can't you wait to come out?
I've been listening a lot to this band I made friends with last year called Endless Mike and the Beagle Club. They're great, check them out. I can't wait for my friend Sean Lee's EP to come out.
3. Do you believe there is life after death?
Something like it.
4. What's your biggest pet peeve of New York City?
Advertisements and oversized sunglasses.
5. Where do you see yourself in 13 years (year 2020)?
Playing Thunderstruck with a robotic hand so fast that the guitar starts smoking to a bunch of robots from a hovering stage with glow sticks and lasers everywhere.



*all photos provided by Drew except for the button. I took that one.

Drew and the Medicinal Pen: Dose #2



Besides writing and recording his own EP, Drew has also taken on making his own music videos and designing the artwork for his album. You can say he's a renaissance man. If anyone could be as active as Drew, then they could be trying to break into the music scene too. You see; Drew is an artist, a musician, a road tripper, and his own benefactor (if you could be your own benefactor). “I spent just under two grand on this project, which came out of my own pocket. It was money I had been saving for years from working odd jobs, playing in the subway, etc.” With the little help and large funding he put into this album, I feel kind of bad getting a press copy for free.

By keeping his personal budget small, Drew is able to work on a project that he is so passionate about. "I’ve been silk-screening T-shirts in the bathroom of my apartment and selling them consignment through some stores and at shows. It can definitely be tough, but I think one thing that makes it easier, for me at least, is that I have no interest in buying other 'things.' I only spend my money on stuff I need, never stuff that you’re kinda made to believe you want or desire. That keeps me on point. But there’s this amazing satisfaction that comes with Doing It Yourself. I get tired, but it’s always worth it, I never feel like I’m wasting my time, never crosses my mind."

When asked about the writing process, Drew says, "A lot of times I’ll start writing a song in that half-awake state when you’re first getting up in the morning, or as you’re first drifting off, so maybe that explains that. When I’m writing them, I think about what they’re about. When I’m playing them on stage, I think about absolutely nothing. It feels amazing." His influences range from musicians like Elliott Smith to Neutral Milk Hotel and the Velvet Underground not because of their entire musical careers, but because of the certain sound they portray in some of Drew's favorite albums.

In all honestly, I feel that Drew has potential in this small EP. He is working hard to promote it and become something more than the kid who is always sick. Perhaps his pen really is medicinal not only for him but also for those who listen to him. It's music for the baby boomer kids. I, being one of them, feel that it penetrates to a level of "where do I go from here?" When you spend your formative years trying to pass high school, graduate from college, and start a career, it is also time to think about where you're going and who you want to be. It's a journey of the mind, I suppose. All those years of teenage angst seem to dissipate with the hairline of our forefathers. Luckily, Drew is able to give to this tiny society of MTV Generation kids something more to listen. "Dream, Dream, Fail, Repeat," is basically the mathematical formula for everyone between the ages of 18 and 25. We find ourselves trying to live up to an image our parents have created, but at the same time mark out the map of our own future.

Drew and the Medicinal Pen: Dose #1



“Sometimes it’s just nice to have some trees around you and not step in puddles of human piss.” –Drew on the difference between New York and Philadelphia.

Let me introduce you to Drew Henkels. He’s 22 and he’s originally from Philadelphia, PA. He goes to Fordham University at Lincoln Center in New York as a film major. He’s got a lot of quirky things about him that you will find endearing. One of his favorite things is to make music. Therefore, let me introduce you to Drew and the Medicinal Pen. When I first heard about him, I thought to myself, “why a medicinal pen?" and surely enough I got my answer. “When I was a kid I had all kinds of health problems, chronic fatigue, stomach issues, a brief cancer scare, Lyme disease, all kinds of lousy stuff. I was depressed, and I think a lot of my health issues were psychologically based.” Thankfully, none of these diseases have killed Drew. Instead it has helped to fuel the creation of his first recording.

About a month ago, Drew released his first EP called “Dream, Dream, Fail, Repeat.” It is a journey of sorts. Instead of exploring the exquisite array of countryside from New York’s dirty Chinatown through New Jersey’s fields of chemical laboratories to finally the place he calls home, Drew brings his own experiences and travels into this small six-song EP. "These 6 songs were kitschy, rough around the edges, so it just made sense to record them entirely analog, on reel-to-reel machines, actual spring reverb and the whole bit."

From songs like “Hole in my Sail” to “Merry-go-Round,” Drew keeps a consistent sound throughout the record while maintaining a rollercoaster of events that any twenty-something-year-old would undertake. "They’re about frustration, being young with a broken heart, sorting through old lies with a shell of optimism. Kind of about figuring out that you own your own life, and then asking 'Now what?'"